CHAPTER XXI
RECONCILIATION
Philip Davison had an accession of strength after that and sat at hisdesk through the whole of one afternoon, thinking and writing. WhenJustin made his customary call in the morning and was about to turnaway, Davison bade him stay.
"You will find some papers in the upper right hand drawer of my desk,Justin. Get them and bring them to me."
Justin found the papers and handed them to him.
"Now, sit down by the bed again."
Justin took the chair, and looked at his father, who reclined in thebed propped with pillows. Davison had changed greatly. His hair andbeard were almost white and his blue eyes gleamed from deep sockets.There was something pathetic in the contrast between the emaciated,trembling father and the robust, stalwart son. Justin pitied him.
"There are some things I want to talk to you about, Justin." His handstrembled so much that the papers rattled as he unfolded them. "I amnot able to attend to business now, and may never be able. Fogg willbe here to-morrow, and there are some things I want to talk over withyou before he comes. He is anxious to sell out to that man from theEast. He thinks the chance is one not to be lost."
It was the first time that Davison had offered to consult with Justinon any subject, or had spoken to him in this manner. Justin drew hischair closer to the bed.
"If I can help you in any way."
"I've got to have your help, I suppose," said Davison, with a touch ofhis old petulance. "When a man is wrecked he clutches at--well, wewon't talk about that! We'll have to agree to let bygones be bygones.I don't want to hurt your feelings, and I want to do right by you."
He put down the papers, which he had been about to read.
"By the way, Justin, I've been thinking a good deal about you andLucy. You and she are still in the notion of marrying, I suppose?"
His voice was kindly now, and it softened still more as he beheld thehurt expression on his son's flushed face.
"Forget what I said just now, and I'll try to be more considerate.This has been a terrible thing for me; how terrible I don't think youcan ever realize. I had made Ben my idol. It was foolish, of course,but in this world men do foolish things; I have done my full share ofthem. So if there is anything to be forgiven by any one I am the oneto do the forgiving."
His hands shook again on the papers and tears came into the sunkeneyes.
"I have forgiven Ben everything. I think he was not so much to blameafter all. I was wild, too, in my youth; and, forgetting that, I didnot bring him up right. If he had lived; that is, if----" The tearsoverflowed on his cheeks, and he stopped. "But we won't talk aboutthat. I wish I could forget it."
He folded the papers and spread them out again, while he sought togain control of his voice.
"If you and Lucy are still in the notion of getting married, you havemy full consent to do so. You are my son, and I shall treat you as ason should be treated; and she is my adopted daughter. So, whatever Ihave is yours and hers, when I am gone."
"You will get well!" said Justin, earnestly and with feeling.
"Yes, I believe so!" There was a touch of the old fire now. "I think Ishall get well. I have improved lately. My head doesn't trouble me somuch, for one thing. It has cleared so that I was able to do a gooddeal of writing yesterday. I shall get well, but I know I shall neverbe the same; I shall never be able to take the interest in businessmatters that I did. I don't seem to care what goes on in the valleyand on the ranch now. Even the loss of those cattle didn't touch me.Once I should have felt it, just as Fogg did."
"Lucy will be very glad to know that we have your full consent to ourmarriage," Justin ventured.
"Of course she will; and you, too. It will even please me to have youmarried as soon as possible. You may live in any of the houses we havebought that will suit you, or a new one can be built."
He took up the papers again.
"I shall turn the management of the place over to you until I am ableto manage it myself. You can consult with Fogg, and I will give youwhat instructions I can. I hope to be strong enough in another monthto ride about, and then I can assist you even more. Fogg thinks itwould be well to sell our canal interests and a part of our land tothis Eastern man. I agree with him. I think we ought to hold a gooddeal of the valley land; it's going to be valuable, when that tunnelis cut. That man will bring in a colony of farmers and gardeners; agood many people can live here, with the aid of the irrigation thatcan be had from the Warrior River. I want to stay here, in spite ofwhat has happened; and you and Lucy will want to stay here. Thereisn't a prettier valley in the state, and it's our home; and the saleof a part of our land, with the cultivation of the rest of it, and theincrease in values, will make us independent."
He began to read from the papers. To Justin's surprise they held alist of names of men Davison had wronged and to whom he wished now tomake restitution.
"I was over-persuaded in a good many things, and often went with Foggagainst my better judgment. But I haven't anything to say against him.Whatever I did I am willing to shoulder. He is a first-class businessman; I admire his ability to make money, and I wanted money, for Ben.These things I have marked here I desire made right, so far as theycan be made right. I don't want you to give away money to anybody.Money isn't to be shaken out of every tree, except by a man like Fogg.Pay whatever is just, but no more. The names are here, and theamounts. I have been generous in the estimates, and you will have nocall to go farther than I have."
He put the papers in Justin's hands.
"There; I turn this business, and all the rest of my business, over toyou! And you and Lucy may get married as soon as you like. Consultwith Fogg concerning the land to be sold."
The blue eyes smiled from the deep sockets, and the face was softerand more kindly. Already Davison had a higher and more satisfactoryopinion of himself.
"You are my son, Justin. I have no other son now; and we will try tobe to each other what we ought to have been all these years."
"Father!"
Justin's voice trembled; and though when he stood erect he toweredabove other men, he humbled himself now as a child, and laid his firstkiss of love on his father's wasted cheek.
Justin Wingate, Ranchman Page 37